...time of Max Weber and his sociological research on bureaucracy during the Pre-World War I era, public administration has played a major role in the ever shifting relationship between the individual and the community. This altered our essential concepts of the public and private monarchy within social life during the twentieth century. In the twenty-first century, the contemporary liberal democratic impulse towards both an unfettered individualism and a strong restricted civic community or culture has developed major challenges to Weber’s ‘modern’ approach to public administration. From former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s declaration that “the era of big government is over” in 1995, to recent proclamations within international theories of a new world order cemented by a ‘global’ civil society, ‘bureaucracy’, as the foundation of the contemporary nation-state, has been challenged on a theoretical and practical level. It is from this exemplar that democratic administration theory has largely emerged. Responding to the new challenges of traditional bureaucracy and their subsequent ‘hollowing out of the State’ as an effective institution, democratic administration theory has attempted to construct a new basis of administrative rule in which both the ‘expert’ and ‘client’ becomes leveled in their discourse through democratic and even radical reform of the administrative process itself. This newfound principle of political rule is in stark contrast to Max Weber’s belief...
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...Criticism for Max Weber’s Bureaucracy Written by Dr. Wasim Al-Habil College of Commerce The Islamic University of Gaza Beginning with Max Weber, bureaucracies have been regarded as mechanisms that rationalize authority and decision-making in society. Yet subsequent theorists have questioned the rationality of bureaucracies. Which features of modern-day public bureaucracies are rational? Which are not? Buttress your argument with citations from organization and/or public administration theories. Introduction: Max Weber’s work about bureaucracy, translated into English in 1946, was one of the major contributions that has influenced the literature of public administration. However, Van Riper (1997) argues that the work of Weber on bureaucracy has no influence on American PA until the 1950’s. The word bureaucracy is derived from two words; “bureau” and “Kratos.” While the word “bureau” refers to the office the Greek suffix “kratia or kratos” means power or rule. Thus we use the word “bureaucracy” to refer to the power of the office (Hummel, 1998, 307). “Bureaucracy” is rule conducted from a desk or office, i.e. by the preparation and dispatch of written documents and electronic ones. Bureaucracy is borrowed by the field of public administration (PA) from the field of sociology. It was borrowed by PA in much a similar way that practices of business were borrowed from the field of business administration and economics. Weber (1946) presents bureaucracy...
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...: Discuss the Contributions of Max Weber as a Founding Father of Sociology | Max Weber born as Karl Emil Maxmillian Webe (1864 – 1920); a German Sociologist, philosopher and political economist with ideas that influenced; social theory, social research and entire discipline of sociology. Weber as one of the three known founding fathers of Sociology is mostly cited with the other founding fathers; Karl Marx and Emil Durkheim in social field. Weber has been prominent in methodological antipositivism, where he argues the study of social action through interpretation of ideas. In his arguments, Weber sees the urge to look at ideas, especially the meanings put onto things and the role of changes of ideas that contribute to society and social changes. His main concern was to understand the processes of rationalization, secularization and disenchantment that he associated with the rise of capitalism and modernity; which resulted to a new way of thinking about the world. He used the German word “verstehen” to discuss deeper understanding of the meanings people put to things; a word that is still used in today’s sociology to analyze the important elements of culture and society. Weber was best known for his thesis combining economic sociology and the sociology of religion as explained in his book: “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” which he proposed that ascetic Protestanism was one of the major elective affinities associate with the rise in Western world of...
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...KKKKKK Criticism for Max Weber’s Bureaucracy Written by Dr. Wasim Al-Habil College of Commerce The Islamic University of Gaza Beginning with Max Weber, bureaucracies have been regarded as mechanisms that rationalize authority and decision-making in society. Yet subsequent theorists have questioned the rationality of bureaucracies. Which features of modern-day public bureaucracies are rational? Which are not? Buttress your argument with citations from organization and/or public administration theories. Introduction: Max Weber’s work about bureaucracy, translated into English in 1946, was one of the major contributions that has influenced the literature of public administration. However, Van Riper (1997) argues that the work of Weber on bureaucracy has no influence on American PA until the 1950’s. The word bureaucracy is derived from two words; “bureau” and “Kratos.” While the word “bureau” refers to the office the Greek suffix “kratia or kratos” means power or rule. Thus we use the word “bureaucracy” to refer to the power of the office (Hummel, 1998, 307). “Bureaucracy” is rule conducted from a desk or office, i.e. by the preparation and dispatch of written documents and electronic ones. Bureaucracy is borrowed by the field of public administration (PA) from the field of sociology. It was borrowed by PA in much a similar way that practices of business were borrowed from the field of business administration and economics. Weber (1946) presents...
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...JOMO KENYATTA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY ARUSHA CAMPUS | DIPLOMA IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT – Y1S1 | INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY | | GRACE RUHINDA HD122-CO11-0247/2013 | 5/28/2014 | ASSIGNMENT 1: Discuss the Contributions of Max Weber as a Founding Father of Sociology | Max Weber born as Karl Emil Maxmillian Webe (1864 – 1920); a German Sociologist, philosopher and political economist with ideas that influenced; social theory, social research and entire discipline of sociology. Weber as one of the three known founding fathers of Sociology is mostly cited with the other founding fathers; Karl Marx and Emil Durkheim in social field. Weber has been prominent in methodological antipositivism, where he argues the study of social action through interpretation of ideas. In his arguments, Weber sees the urge to look at ideas, especially the meanings put onto things and the role of changes of ideas that contribute to society and social changes. His main concern was to understand the processes of rationalization, secularization and disenchantment that he associated with the rise of capitalism and modernity; which resulted to a new way of thinking about the world. He used the German word “verstehen” to discuss deeper understanding of the meanings people put to things; a word that is still used in today’s sociology to analyze the important elements of culture and society. Weber was best known for his thesis combining economic sociology and the sociology of religion as explained...
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...American politics relates to the social class when looked at with three elements in mind of the socioeconomic status. Those three are income, education, and occupation. With income the ties are connected to economic issues. The lower making income voters tend to be more liberal on social welfare issues. The high income democrats are more likely to be liberal on economic issues similar to the low income democrats. With regard to education the better educated voters tend to more liberal on issues containing to race, abortion, gays, and gender. This also depends on a person’s background. Also might be more understanding in the modern day for what is acceptable in society. The class divides influences government in how it operates since the new deal era of the 1930’s. Thus leaving social class the main divider between parties. The higher income voters vote republican, the lower income poor and working class vote democratic. Labor has played a very big role in the democratic coalition. Unions tend to be effective in getting a group of their members to come out and vote which without the labor union otherwise would not have voted. Social and economic status is a well-known...
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...Power and Politics Power and Politics Unit P1: Basic Concepts Unit M1: Basic Concepts Power and Politics Basic Concepts Introduction We need to begin by noting and understanding the definitions of - and interrelationship between - the following concepts: a. Power b. Politics c. Authority d. Ideology The concepts of power and politics are entwined / inter-dependent in the sense that politics - whether of the specifically governmental kind (political parties, pressure groups, etc.), the economic kind (bureaucracies, the organization of the workplace into social hierarchies based upon status, etc.) or the interpersonal (relations between males and females, children and adults, etc) - involves the exercising of power. What we have to begin by doing, therefore, is to define the concept of power (and understand the differing dimensions / aspects of power - coercive power, types of authority and so forth) and relate it to such ideas as: a. The social characteristics of the powerful and the powerless. b. The development of ideological frameworks that legitimise the exercise of power. c. The social effects / consequences of the exercising of power. Explicitly, in relation to politics and power there are two basic kinds of sociological question that we need to explore: a. Who rules in society? b. How is their power created, legitimised and reproduced? In social terms, power, almost by definition, involves the rule by the few over the majority and we have to understand...
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...Max Weber on Bureaucracy I. Merriam Webster’s Definition of Bureaucracy: 1 a : a body of nonelective government officials b : an administrative policy-making group 2 : government characterized by specialization of functions, adherence to fixed rules, and a hierarchy of authority 3 : a system of administration marked by officialism, red tape, and proliferation II. Background and Description Max Weber was born 1864 and died 1920. Weber asks how is it a leader can give a command and have actions carried out? He answers the question by classifying claims to the "legitimacy" in the exercise of authority. His observations on bureaucracy were heavily influenced by his experiences in the United States. While traveling there, Weber was struck by the role of bureaucracy in a democratic society. The problem, as he saw it, was that modern democracy required bureaucratic structures of all kinds in the administration of government and even in the conduct of professional party politics. Handing over the reins to a class of unelected "experts," however, threatened to undermine the very basis of democracy itself. In particular, Weber stressed two problems: the unaccountability of unelected civil servants and the bureaucratic tendency toward inflexibility in the application of rules. Weber's interest in the nature of power and authority, as well as his pervasive preoccupation with modern trends of rationalization, led him to concern himself with the operation of modern large-scale...
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...Max Weber on Bureaucracy I. Merriam Webster’s Definition of Bureaucracy: 1 a : a body of nonelective government officials b : an administrative policy-making group 2 : government characterized by specialization of functions, adherence to fixed rules, and a hierarchy of authority 3 : a system of administration marked by officialism, red tape, and proliferation II. Background and Description Max Weber was born 1864 and died 1920. Weber asks how is it a leader can give a command and have actions carried out? He answers the question by classifying claims to the "legitimacy" in the exercise of authority. His observations on bureaucracy were heavily influenced by his experiences in the United States. While traveling there, Weber was struck by the role of bureaucracy in a democratic society. The problem, as he saw it, was that modern democracy required bureaucratic structures of all kinds in the administration of government and even in the conduct of professional party politics. Handing over the reins to a class of unelected "experts," however, threatened to undermine the very basis of democracy itself. In particular, Weber stressed two problems: the unaccountability of unelected civil servants and the bureaucratic tendency toward inflexibility in the application of rules. Weber's interest in the nature of power and authority, as well as his pervasive preoccupation with modern trends of rationalization, led him to concern himself with the operation of modern large-scale...
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...and the topics, theories, and theorists to study for the Final Exam. EVERYTHING that appears on this list WILL be on the exam and there will be NO surprises on the exam, study this and you should do just fine. |WEEK |CHAPTER |TOPICS TO STUDY | |Week 1 |Chapter. 1: The Sociological Perspective |C. Wright Mills | | | |Karl Marx – Class Conflict | | | |Max Weber and the Protestant Ethic |...
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...Politics as a Vocation: Essay 1 “Politics as a Vocation” is a speech that Max Weber gave to the Free Students Union of Munich University in January of 1919, almost immediately after the end of WW I. He opens his speech by saying he will not take a position on the actual problems of the day, but rather “I shall raise certain questions concerning the significance of political action in the whole way of life” (1, 27). Weber’s main goal throughout his speech is to address the broader philosophical questions of how a person might make politics his livelihood in the sense of a vocation, along with dissecting the idea of what exactly politics is in relation to power, and what characteristics people who are considered to be politicians posses in order to be considered successful politicians. Weber begins by expressing his desire to relay the idea that politics refers to “the leadership or the influence of leadership of a state” (1, 27). Politics in this sense proves itself to be a domineering force, but this begs the question what is a state? Weber promptly answers this question expressing: “a state is a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory… The state is considered the sole source of the ‘right’ to use violence” (1, 27). By defining a state in these terms, Weber is not trying to limit the definition by allowing only this to define the institution, but rather force is the means specific to the state...
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...In sociology, the iron cage is a term coined by Max Weber for the increased rationalization inherent in social life, particularly in Western capitalist societies. The "iron cage" thus traps individuals in systems based purely on teleological efficiency, rational calculation and control. Weber also described the bureaucratization of social order as "the polar night of icy darkness".[1] The original German term is stahlhartes Gehäuse; this was translated into "iron cage", an expression made familiar to English language speakers by Talcott Parsons in his 1930 translation of Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.[2] This translation has recently been questioned by certain sociologists and interpreted instead as the "shell as hard as steel".[2][3] Weber wrote: “ | In Baxter’s view the care for external goods should only lie on the shoulders of the 'saint like a light cloak, which can be thrown aside at any moment.' But fate decreed that the cloak should become an iron cage."[4] | ” | Weber became concerned with social actions and the subjective meaning that humans attach to their actions and interaction within specific social contexts. He also believed in idealism, which is the belief that we only know things because of the meanings that we apply to them. This led to his interest in power and authority in terms of bureaucracy and rationalization. Rationalization and bureaucracy[edit] Weber states, “the course of development involves… the bringing in of calculation...
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...that contemporary democracies are involved in another round in a perennial debate and ideological struggle over what are desirable forms of administration and government, that is, a struggle over institutional identities and institutional balances. The argument is not that bureaucratic organization is a panacea and the answer to all challenges of public administration. Rather, bureaucratic organization is part of a repertoire of overlapping, supplementary and competing forms co-existing in contemporary democracies, and so are market-organization and network-organization. Rediscovering Weber’s analysis of bureaucratic organization, then, enriches our understanding of public administration. This is in particular true when we (a) include bureaucracy as an institution, and not only an instrument; (b) look at the empirical studies in their time and context, and not only at Weber’s ideal-types and predictions; and (c) take into account the political and normative order bureaucracy is part of, and not only the internal characteristics of “the bureau”. 2 Making sense of public administration Is “bureaucracy” an organizational dinosaur helplessly involved in its death struggle? Is it an undesirable and non-viable form of administration developed in a legalistic and authoritarian society and now inevitably withering away because it is incompatible with complex, individualistic and dynamic societies? Are, therefore, the term...
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...The modern state As Adam Ferguson himself described, natural productions are generally formed by degrees. Vegetables are raised from a tender shoot, and animals from an infant state. The latter, being active, extend together their operations and their powers, and have a progress in what they perform, and have a progress in what they perform as well as in the faculties they acquire. This progress in the case of man is continued to a greater extent than in that of any other animal. Not only the individual advances from infancy to manhood, but the species itself from rudeness to civilization. Given practical form by the new nation states of Western Europe such as France in the late Middle Ages or Prussia in the nineteenth century, the old state system rested on the idea that by concentrating power in a single head or centre, the state itself could be sufficiently controlled and its environment sufficiently managed to achieve self-sufficiency or at least a maximum of self-sufficiency in a world which would inevitably be hostile or at best neutral toward each state's interests and in which alliances would reflect temporary coalitions of interests that should not be expected to last beyond that convergence. The old maxim: "No state has friends, only interests," typified that situation. The first powerful nation-states were monarchies, advocates of the divine right of kings to protect central authority and power. After a series of modern revolutions, first in thought, led by...
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...Busi 310 Quiz 1 Managerial Roles Tasks a manager is expected to perform based on the position he or she holds in the organization Transformational Leader Inspires followers to achieve organizational goals Transactional Leader Clarifies Follower role and task requirements Interpersonal The managerial role of the figurehead, leader, or liaison Total Responsibility Management Groups that balance the demand for greater profits while remaining environmentally sensitive Referent Power The display of admirable characteristics that others seek to possess Managers Responsible for using resources to increase performance and profits Autocratic Manager Makes a decision and then informs the group about the decision Leadership The ability to influence others and is dependent upon whether the leader possess that which followers seek Organizational Management Applying general principles of systematic planning and problem solving to direct and supervise an organization Leaders Act as a change agents within the organization and can be classified as either Transformational or Transactional Bystanders Observe from the sidelines and disengage from their leaders and their organizations Expert Power Power an individual has when they possess a special knowledge, skill, or ability that others lack Competence Interpersonal and technical skill Planning The development of goals, which leads to the development of an overall strategy for achieving those...
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